I play the guitar, sing, write songs part time, and I think its important that we give props to all the Christian musicians out there, portraying a positive message to society. Being a music minister is not easy, and it must not be easy when one is talented and devotes his or her life to music ministry. but the lord never said taking up the cross and following him would be easy either. Its a calling

We are called to preach the gospel joyfully as Don Bosco would say, “Be Joyful”. Here is a great joyful rendition of blessed be your name.

Well I graduated from Seton HAll University with a BA in philosophy.

This is the graduating class of 2008.

Yes, There I am, with Msgr. Sheeran. The Dean of the school.

Our Keynote speaker of the day was supposed to be Tony Snow but he was incapacitated by his cancer, and we had instead the spirited talk by immaculee Ilibagiza, who talked about the need to hold onto ones faith no matter how hard life’s struggles.  Immaculee was a survivor of the Rwandan genocide as a college student. She talked about the perseverance of prayer, especially the power of the rosary. During the genocide, she stayed in a regular size bathroom with 8 other women for 3 months. When she emerged, her whole family was killed. She found it in her heart to forgive her families murderers and promotes healing in her broken country.

In reflection CHECK OUT

St. Martin de Porres

A humble saint, who endured many hardships in life, including, being the son of a former slave, and endured racial discrimination. One of his notable thought, is that when we are persecuted by the world around us, we have one of to choices to make. We must choose to be bitter or better.

I usually don’t blog this often unless its special or important.

I recieved an email from the movement of Fr. Frank Pavone asking me to post his two newest videos on my blog. Wow I feel important.

Fr. Frank Pavone is in charge of the movement priests for life. He is a former Salesian, and an advocate for life around this country. Please pray for the end of abortions, which are a great evil in our nation. Usually a Great evil is combatted by a greater good, many young people today are for life. As the scriptures says, where sin is present, grace is present all the more.

In conclusion, if you are offended by this video, and for the message it gives, I can listen to your comments, but I can not apoligize for my pro life beliefs.

A wise person once said, for a young person, its easy for them to give their time rather than their money. Because money is limited. Whereas for the adult, its easy for them to give their money rather than their time because, time is short, and limited.

Where I live, we have a youth center that has many activities. The Salesians in formation are the main animators of the runnning of the center, but we also have other helpers.

I want to talk briefly about one of our helpers. His name is Bob. Bob is a movie director, and an artist. He comes to our center every week for a few hours and shows the kids how to paint. He is very selfless, and gives of his time and treasure for the art supplies.

A question to reflect on: How do I, and how can I help others in society around me to become better Christians and honest citizens?

Please pray for all those who do good silently, not looking for credit, but performing acts unseen like bob.

Pope Benedict reflected with us that youth are the future of the church. Young people must be courageous. To go forward to the alter of God and say in their hearts, hear I am Lord. Pray for courageous Christ filled young people to come foward and serve the church as priests, brothers and sisters. This video is called Jesus in the Streets of New York. For more information concerning a calling to the priesthood, or religious life check out salesianvocation.com

http://youtube.com/watch?v=PgSyW9qS-Qw

I have seen the Pope-I was there for the mass for priests and religious.

Wow, I got tickets to go see the pope in St. Patrick’s Cathedral. Woke up at 4am. To head to the city for 5, so I could get through security. We waited in St. Pats Cathedral for about 3 hours for the pope to arrive. What an experience.

This is how close I was to the front.

St. Pat’s was Packed to Capacity with Priests, Brothers, and Sisters.

It was an overwhelming feeling having the presence of so many people whose lives are dedicated to God.

Then the main doors opened to the cathedral, and we all stood up and in came the bishops. But not the pope yet. The doors were closed and we all sat down. There were 5000 people waiting to see the pope on the steps of St. Pat’s. Then we heard a roar of cheering and we all stood up. The doors were closed but we all stood up in unison, for we knew the pope, vicar of Christ was near. Then the doors to the cathedral opened and we were clapping and cheering. In came the main cardinals and the pope.

The Cardinals – Cardinal Bertone (Salesian Cardinal, Vatican Secretary of State).

Pope coming Into St. Pat’s

Pope In Entrance Procession – Looking at me

Some Mass Pic’s

I have been truly blest today. This is a once in a lifetime experience. God bless the Pope, who gave us such an inspiring heartfelt homily. God Bless the church and the rock. Keep our holy Father Strong Lord. I am just so filled with joy at having the oportunity to share in this experience with our holy father

Long Live the Pope

Love takes different forms throughout ones life. It’s important; we thank God for the love in our life and cherish these moments. This movie is five people you meet in heaven. It is about a man named Eddie who dies and is finding meaning in his life. When he recognizes his guilt in life and felt totally abandoned. He is lifted up by another out of his emptiness and is filled. Through love, we impact the lives of others. Sometimes we’re blind to how much an act of kindness, can affect someone’s life. Maybe one of the beautiful mysteries of life is the ability to enact goodness, kindness and joy in the lives of others.

Glory is a great movie about the 54^th Massachusetts African American Regiment who fought during the Civil War. The movie inspires great emotion and passion. This scene is when two worlds collide between soldiers. The scuffle in this scene is between Morgan Freeman an older soldier and Denzel Washington a younger soldier.

The scuffle reminds me of the clash of cultures that happens every day, in our homes, streets, schools… Youth are very passionate and often times the zeal and passion blinds them from learning from the experience of their parents, teachers, and adults in their lives. We all have something to offer Christ for the betterment of our world. Sometimes adults are afraid to confront youth in their fervor for many reasons, but we all need to be confronted at times for our betterment. As said before we need to have a passion for youth. Youth have a message to tell us but we also have a message to tell the youth. Jesus said, take up your cross and follow me, he didn’t say pick up your sticks. He said pick up your heavy, hard to carry cross, its not easy, but don’t worry because as Christians the cross isn’t the end. There’s the victory and along our path of struggle Christ sends others to help us.

Don Bosco said: “It is not enough that you love the young but they must know that they are loved”.

As Salesians we help the young discover their potential so that they may become good Christians and Honest Citizens. As educators one plants the seeds of faith, love, and hope in their students. In all we do we are educating. It’s important we educate well. A question I ask myself in reflection, Do I love the youth I am serving, and do I accept them for who they are, and for the God given potential they have within. Then secondly, do my actions communicate an adult who is a friend who accepts them for who they are and who wants them to develop into the best person they can be? Friends, I’ve been dedicating my life to the service of God and the young for six years. After a while I discovered I was offering myself to the young. That was good but eventually I realized for me it is not possible to communicate my love for the young on my own. I need the help of Christ, and to immitate myself after him. Its important that we offer the youth Christ. Our world, our young people are so hungry for food, for that life giving, thirst quenching water. There is so much noise in the world. MTV, Facebook, Myspace, BET… are offering food. These media mediums are appealing and attractive. But youth want more, they find they’re not satisfied. Thats why, If we offer ourselves to the young, its good but they will be hungry and thirsty again. We must offer Christ, by conforming ourselves to him and live our lives in him so Christ can penetrate the totality of our being. When we can communicate this experience of Jesus in a joyful way, he will satisfy their hunger and thirst. But we must be JOYFULLY CONVINCED.